A number of recreational pursuit employ personal watercraft that ride, plane or glide over varying water surfaces. Perhaps the most widely known and widely practiced of these pursuits is surfing, wherein a user maneuvers a surfboard onto the face of a breaking wave and attempts to balance on and control the board while being carried along with the wave. As can be appreciated, it is critical that the user have adequate friction to engage the board and have sufficient control to perform as desired.
Historically, friction between a user's feet and the surfboard has been increased by applying wax to the surface of the board. Although useful and still commonly used, using wax to increase traction involves a number of drawbacks. The process of applying the wax is time consuming and must be repeated whenever the wax melts or rubs off. Further, the sticky nature of the wax makes it extremely susceptible to contamination by sand. This requires the user to exercise considerable care to avoid contacting the surfboard surface with sand and the laborious removal of the wax and reapplication when sand inevitably gets stuck in the wax.
To overcome some of the deficiencies of wax, various configurations of foam traction pads have been used to provide engagement for the user's feet. In general, such pads have been popular and their use has spread to many sports that require a user to stand on a personal watercraft.
However, the prior art has offered very few methods for improving control of a personal watercraft when the user is not guiding the board with the user's feet or otherwise riding the board in its primary mode. For example, the prior art traction pads discussed above improve friction between the user's feet and the board when the user is riding the board on the face of the wave. Yet, when the user is lying on the board and paddling to get in position to catch a wave, the traction pads offer little or no help.
Accordingly, what has been needed is a device that improves a user's control over the personal watercraft. Similarly, there is a need for device that engages with a user's hand to provide such improved control. This invention satisfies these and other needs.